I've been up all night with very regular contractions, but really no pain. I think they're just BH, but I never get so many that they wake me up at night! Could this be the start of labor, or am I just overly anxious? I have no other symptoms (haven't lost my plug, no back pain), although my midwife did say last week that I'm 1cm and 80% and could go at anytime. I'm not due for another 8 days, but this is weird and I haven't felt like this at all this pregnancy, so now I'm wondering if baby is on the way!

That sounds just like how my labor started. I had painless contractions for half the night, which then stopped at around 4AM. I woke up at 9 and they picked up again about an hour later, and remained regular (every 12 to 15 minutes) throughout the day. My midwife came to check me at 4PM and said my cervix was posterior, she couldn't tell how dilated I was, and I was likely not in labor. After dinner I got into the bathtub and stayed there for over an hour. The contractions went to 8 minutes apart and got slightly more painful, to the point where I sometimes had to make a noise through them. When I got out of the tub the pain got a bit more intense, but not intolerable. Called the midwife at 10:30 to ask her to come and at least determine whether I was really in labor, since the contractions were 5 min apart but still not what I'd call painful. She got there at 11, I was 6cm dilated, I got into the pool and the baby was out at 12:16!

So... it's possible!!! Good luck!

edited to add that I also didn't lose my plug, had no discharge, no other warning signs....

To contrast that experience, I've been having sometimes regular, sometimes irregular painless contractions for about 2 weeks now with no lost mucus plug and no baby. One night, they averaged about 5 minutes apart for 2 hours, and I called my midwife. She asked how long my contractions were, and I said 20-30 seconds. She said that when it was real labor, it would be 60 seconds. Good luck, mamma. I hope that your experience is closer to Erdbeer's than mine.

I've been having painless contractions lasting about a minute every 5-10 minutes for the past week. They pick up for awhile, go away, etc. I lost a lot of bloody mucous so I'm hoping it will eventually mean something.

I've been up all night with very regular contractions, but really no pain. I think they're just BH, but I never get so many that they wake me up at night! Could this be the start of labor, or am I just overly anxious? I have no other symptoms (haven't lost my plug, no back pain), although my midwife did say last week that I'm 1cm and 80% and could go at anytime. I'm not due for another 8 days, but this is weird and I haven't felt like this at all this pregnancy, so now I'm wondering if baby is on the way!

Your experience last night sounded just like mine! Up until last night there had been no change in what I was feeling since week 30. No signs of labor whatsoever. Then around 10pm, I suddenly started getting intense, though painless contractions. They were much stronger than anything else I experienced. They continued for 2 hours until I finally went to bed. I did sleep, but I was near consciousness for most of the night, aware that my uterus was continuing to contract. At 5am I woke up with an especially strong contraction, and I just lay there for another hour feeling them. They were pretty long (1.5 tp 2 minutes, I am guessing), with definite peaks and valleys. I got up to use the bathroom and get a drink of water, and my husband gave me a foot rub. I went back to sleep after that and slept deeply. They seemed to have stopped, though they returned for a time after I woke up a few hours later. I've been very busy nesting all day long, cooking up a storm, and the contractions seem to calm when I am moving around a lot... Oh, and the baby has been moving around like crazy!

So, who knows what will happen?! I'm due on the 24th. All I know is that this is a definite change, something new, finally!

Thanks so much for all the replies! I'm still in the same situation...contractions pretty regularly, but little to no pain. I got some more sleep this morning, then went out and walked the dog with my husband to see if it would get anything moving. I've continued feeling the exact same way though. I guess we'll just wait it out. I hope things pick up!